So Let It Be Written

Main menu

Post navigation

“We” Are The 64%

For those of you who think the Occupy Wall Street (or Occupy Together) movement, who claim to be “The 99%”, is just a fringe element that does not represent even a small fraction of your friends and neighbors, consider the following excerpts from the “Declaration of the Occupation of New York City“:

We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

…corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth…

…no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments.

Now compare that to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll (conducted between October 6 and 10, 2011), which addressed the President’s most recent jobs bill (emphasis in bold mine):

When asked simply if Congress should pass the legislation or not, 30 percent of respondents answer yes, while 22 percent say no; 44 percent have no opinion.

But when the legislation’s details are included in a follow-up question — that it would cut payroll taxes, fund new road construction, extend unemployment benefits, and that it would be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy — 63 percent say they favor the bill and 32 percent oppose it.

What’s more, 64 percent of respondents agree with the statement that it is a “good idea” to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, because they should pay their fair share and can afford to pay more to help fund programs and government operations.

By comparison, 31 percent agree with the statement that raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations is a “bad idea,” because higher taxes take away money that would otherwise be invested to help grow the economy.

So although Occupy Wall Street (Occupy Together) may not be the 99%, and the person to your left and right may not agree with every tenet of the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City, this survey indicates that if you don’t want to make the wealthy and corporations pay their “fair share”, then you are in the minority.

You pose an excellent question, and I hope the 99%, or the 64%, will respond. I, personally, am a member of the 36%. When I ask them this question at the various Occupy Together events, reminding them that “the rich” are taxed at a much higher rate and pay a majority of the nation’s taxes, they always bring up “loopholes” and never want to commit to an exact number that would constitute “fair”.